ST. LOUIS – Illinois State men's basketball senior guard Paris Lee is the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year and the MVC Defensive Player of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday.
The all-time steals leader at ISU, Lee is the first Redbird to earn the league's top individual player honor in 16 seasons. In addition to averaging 13.0 points per game, Lee leads the league in steals (2.0), assists (5.1) and 3-pointers (69).
Lee received 110 total points to outdistance Wichita State's Markis McDuffie (34 points) and Landry Shamet (30 points). Six different student-athletes received first-place tallies, including Lee, McDuffie, Shamet, Alize Johnson of Missouri State, Milton Doyle of Loyola, and Jeremy Morgan of Northern Iowa. Voting was conducted by coaches, sports information directors and a media panel (voters could not vote for their own student-athlete).
A Maywood, Illinois, native, Lee is the nation's active leader with 244 steals, good for sixth place on the all-time MVC list. Lee ranks fifth all-time for Illinois State with 471 career assists, tied for 18th in MVC history. With two more starts Lee will surpass ISU head coach Dan Muller for the all-time school record for career games started. Lee helped lead the Redbirds to their first regular-season title since the 1997-98 season, while ISU set program records with 25 regular-season wins and 17 MVC victories.
Lee, who became the first Redbird to earn the Larry Bird Trophy since Tarise Bryson in 2001, also became the first ISU player since Dinma Odiakosa in 2010 to win the MVC's Defensive Player of the Year honor. Lee anchors the Redbird defense, which ranks No. 4 nationally in opponent field goal percentage (.377) and No. 5 nationally in scoring defense (60.7 points per game). ISU's .377 figure would rank No. 1 all-time in MVC history.
Previous ISU players to earn the Larry Bird trophy include Bryson (2001) and Rico Hill (1998). Other ISU players to win the league's Defensive Player of the Year award include Odiakosa (2010), Dan Muller (1996, 1997) and Randy Blair (1990).
Darren Brooks of Southern Illinois (2004, 2005), Nate Green of Indiana State (2000) and Ashraf Amaya of Southern Illinois (1992) are the only previous MVC players to sweep both awards. The league began selecting a Defensive Player of the Year in 1989.
Along with earning MVC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year accolades, Lee was also named Tuesday to the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team and the MVC All-Defensive Team.
The Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Illinois State men's basketball team is the No. 1 seed in the 2017 State Farm MVC Tournament held at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Lee and the Redbirds begin play Friday, March 3 at noon versus the winner of Thursday night's No. 8 Evansville versus No. 9 Indiana State game.
All-session tickets to Arch Madness are on sale now through the Illinois State Athletics ticket office by either calling (309) 438-8000 or by visiting GoRedbirds.com/Tickets.
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